Fluyt (Dutch cargo flyboat)
Fluyt (filibote holandés de carga)
- Date
- 1595 · confidence medium
- Place
- Hoorn, North Holland, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Pieter Janszoon Liorne and the shipyards of Hoorn
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A merchant ship with a bulging hull, simple rigging and a small crew, designed to carry the maximum cargo at minimum cost. Dutch yards built them in series, giving the Netherlands an edge in Baltic and Atlantic trade.
The first fluyt is credited to a ship launched at Hoorn in 1595; the type was refined over the following decades.
What it led to
- Dutch dominance of Baltic and overseas trade
- lower cost per ton carried
- the merchant fleet of the East India Company